OpenAI Breaks Free From Exclusive AI Pact With Microsoft
OpenAI CEO Sam Altman, left, speaks with Microsoft Chief Technology Officer Kevin Scott during the Microsoft Build conference in Seattle in 2024.
Photographer: Jason Redmond/AFP/Getty ImagesMicrosoft Corp. and OpenAI have agreed to drop the software giant’s exclusive right to sell the startup’s AI models, opening the door for the ChatGPT maker to pursue deals with cloud-computing rivals like Amazon.com Inc.
In exchange for ending that exclusivity — which helped boost Microsoft’s cloud sales in the early years of the AI boom — the world’s largest software maker will no longer pay a revenue share on OpenAI products it resells on its cloud. The two companies announced the revised deal in a joint statement on Monday.